News that the U.S. Postal Service is now shredding undeliverable books meant for children under a program aimed at instilling the love of reading into Tennessee’s youth is both sad and infuriating.As we noted in this space last year, it’s sad that these books will be destroyed to satisfy bureaucratic red tape. And it’s infuriating that the USPS remains so inflexible in reaching a proper resolution to this matter.Postal officials have said it is costly for them to hold onto books that were returned as undeliverable, and they insist the not-for-profit organizations, who already paid once for their delivery, must also pay a fee to get them back.As the NET News Service reported earlier this month, postal officials have cracked down on the mailing practices of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which partners with the Governor’s Books from Birth foundation and other groups to deliver a new, age-appropriate, hardcover book each month to children from birth to age 5 at no cost to the family — regardless of income.“The Postal Service appreciates Imagination Library’s business and acknowledges its service to the community,” David Walton, USPS corporate communications spokesman said in a statement. “However, the Postal Service cannot offer a free service to one organization when other organizations and businesses are paying for the same services.”We understand the USPS is facing major financial problems, but this is not the way to address the situation. It is a public relations disaster that threatens to erode support for the USPS among those in Congress who control the purse strings of the postal service.Instead of destroying these instruments of knowledge, the USPS should be working to find a financially feasible way to get these books into the hands of children.
from Johnson City Press Latest News Feed
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